Final Fantasy: Redemption
by siverstorm
Summary: Eric York used to live in our world, now he lives on Gran Pulse. A year after Lightning's group moved to Gran Pulse. Branded a L'Cie, he must figure out his focus and fight! MAJOR ENDGAME SPOILERS! Rated for Language! Chapter 8 FINALLY UP! WOO!
1. If only…

Some notes: (because there isn't enough space out there)

Basically the events of Final Fantasy: Dark Redemption occur after the end of FF13 so there WILL BE MAJOR SPOILERS and if you haven't finished playing the game then what the hell are you doing reading these fics? Also when I use Lighting's real name I'm using her REAL real name. (That's Éclair for those of you who never searched it.) I'll also be using some slight adult themes and language, but nothing horrible enough to make this an M-rated fic.

This will be the only disclaimer as I'll probably be too lazy to keep repeating it for no reason: If I owned any of the copyrights to FF13 I'm pretty sure that would make me one of the writers or designers for the game or something. And I was one of the writers or designers why the hell would I be writing a fanfic? :P So yea I don't own any of those copyrights, Square Enix does. I only own Eric.

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Chapter 1: If only…

Have you ever been so bored with your life that you contemplated drinking yourself to death? Well I've never actually contemplated killing myself, but my life is pretty damn boring. Ahh how rude of me. Let me begin again. My name is Eric York. I'm a 22 year old university student currently studying biomedical engineering. If you want my physical description, I'm a modest 5'9", white skin, brown eyes, black hair, I guess you could say I'm well built and I do go to a gym, but I'm not a bodybuilder or anything like that.

Basically I have no life. Honestly, I probably get an hour of free time a day after my errands are finished buy groceries, go to the gym, go to work, etc, and that's NOT when there's going to be a big test or essay due. The only communication I get with my friends is through MSN and the occasional text (calling me would be too time consuming). So when I get my sacred hour of free time you can usually find me playing video games. For me video games is my form of escapism. I can get lost in an RPG and never come back…figuratively.

My most recent addiction has been Final Fantasy XIII, and after I finished this game Lightning had clawed her way to the top of my list of favourite characters from any form of story. I mean if I ever were to meet her I'd guarantee she might try to kill me because I wouldn't stop staring at her, but it's not like I'll ever meet a fictional character no matter how much I want to.

And just to clear things up, I'm not one of those super-obsessed cult fans with shrines where they pray to their favourite characters. I'm not gonna lie, I love her mainly because she's hot, but what self-respecting male gamer wouldn't?

I flipped on my laptop in a vain attempt to check my e-mails and see if any of my 20 MSN friends were online, but nobody sends me e-mails, and the majority of my friends are probably just as busy as I am. Having completed my tasks for the day which consisted of finishing up my paper on the major arteries of the body, buying groceries, and going to the gym I was dead tired decided to get some sleep. I looked over at my PS3 before I shut off the lights and wished I had some time to finish some more of the post-credits mark missions in Final Fantasy XIII. And without changing out of my jeans and t-shirt I slowly drifted into sleep worried only about the next boring day.

* * *

Waking up inside a volcano isn't exactly the most reassuring thing in regards to your safety. It was odd because I usually don't dream when I sleep.

Not only was I dreaming, but it was so vivid that I actually thought I wasn't dreaming. The heat on my bare skin felt as if it were practically searing me. I got up to observe the surroundings and wipe the epic mass of sweat forming on my face.

I was on a platform in the middle of this dream-volcano and next to me a giant blue glowing rock was floating. Hell I didn't know my subconscious was capable of such creativity.

As I walked up to the glowing rock I began to hear a voice possibly coming from the rock.

_Boy…_

_Come hither…_

_Realize thy true potential…_

_Bear the mark of thy destiny…_

_Accept thy fate…_

Hmm this seems like an interesting dream might as well go with it. "Sure I'll accept my fate, care to tell me what it is? It wouldn't happen to be as boring as my daily life now would it?" I smirked at my own bad joke. I find I can easily amuse myself with stupid things.

_Destiny shall show thy way… _

_Thy fate has been sealed…_

_Now awaken and proceed to complete thy focus!_

Wait what? Did it just say focus? It said "thy" a lot. Ugh, God, wow. I'm so unoriginal that even my dreams need to rip off concepts to be remotely interesting…

The giant rock proceeded to knock me off the platform into the mercilessly hot lava underneath. Naturally I screamed. Yea it was a dream, but it's pretty damn scary when you can actually FEEL your body burning hotter and hotter as you get closer.

"AGHHHHHH!" As I fell into the lava my body felt as if I disintegrated.

…and then…nothing…

* * *

"Ugh my head…." I yawned and got up. I proceeded to grab my watch on my night-table when it dawned on me. I was sleeping on the floor of what looked like a forest.

"What the hell? Am I still dreaming?" I wanted to believe that, but for some reason I was having trouble. I mean how often does someone who never dreams have a dream this vivid? My right bicep began to have a burning sensation so I pulled up my T-shirt sleeve and I witnessed something that kinda scared me. On my bicep was a Pulse L'Cie mark. "Hah….now I bet I'll bump into Lightning and Snow and those guys…"

This dream had to end soon. Right?

The terrain was definitely different. Two giant mountains on either side leaving a narrow pathway for people to travel across. Aside from some large animal tracks (or behemoth tracks for all I know…) there didn't seem to be any other humans who took this path.

"Well…I guess I should find a weapon…" I contemplated taking some thicker tree branches until I found a small deformed piece of steel. I think it used to be a pole. Hey it was better than nothing.

After stretching a bit I decided to pick a random direction and walk down the path that ensued. Aside from some more trees and bushes there didn't seem to be any signs of wildlife or civilization. If I'm really dreaming about being in the world of Final Fantasy XIII then I'm pretty sure I would've dreamed myself maybe in Nautilus or Bodhum or somewhere with civilization.

As if the L'Cie mark didn't give away where I was, a tiny flan appeared and I guess tried to slap my leg. It stung a bit, but it was almost cute how the thing thought it could take me on. I stabbed it with the pole and it slowly melted into a yellow puddle of gel until it dissapeared.

As I continued my travel I found a certain spot that told me where I ended up. What I stumbled across was the base camp for Lightning's team when they first arrived in Pulse, I was in the Vallis Media.

"Cool…" I took the time to scavenge the place hopefully finding a potion or something in case I really got into a bit of a fix. Yea this is a dream, but I had this nagging suspicion that it might be a long one, and if I can feel pain in this dream I really wouldn't wanna die.

Nothing. Not even a save station for amusement.

The worst part is I can't even camp out here if I get lost and tired because no one is with me to take night shifts guarding the place.

I decided to go back the way I came and make a right. If memory serves right I should be in the Archylte Steppe eventually.

Surprisingly enough the Steppe is even larger than the in-game one. But the monsters are still roaming free, the majority of which could probably wipe the floor with me. Now I'm kinda screwed. I could go to Mah'habara but again, I'd probably get raped by those hoplites and cryohedrons. Maybe I could camp out at the entrance and if I'm lucky nothing will pass buy. This is kinda screwing me over though, I still have no idea what my "dream focus" is the rock thing said destiny would show me the way I think. Maybe if I fall asleep I'll wake up back home. This wasn't much of an interesting dream, but hey at least I was dreaming.

I started on my way towards Mah'habara. It took my team like what? Less than 10 minutes to get there? I should be okay.

*~6 hours later~*

Tired from avoiding all of the monsters that looked too menacing and now very hungry I made it to the point where the Behemoth King and that giant megistotherian were fighting. As I've stated before I'm not a huge fan of dying and avoiding them seems incredibly difficult. However it appears that when I get tired and hungry I make really stupid decisions.

I saw an opening in their battle and attempted to run in between the behemoth and the rock wall when the idiotic megistotherian noticed me and lunged for me without thinking about it's current opponent. The behemoth took advantage of the megistotherian's stupidity and knocked it over the cliff. As I continued to run I realized that the behemoth was trailing me at a speed much faster than my own.

"AWW SHIT!" I nearly doubled my speed in an attempt to get inside Mah'habara, but the behemoth had other plans. It took a swipe at me with its giant claws. The wind strength behind the beast's swipe would've been enough but the fact that it clipped me just sent my body flying into the wall.

"FUCK" I coughed up some blood and tried to get up. The pain in my body was like nothing I had experienced. My L'Cie mark was burning again, and as I lifted my arms with what energy I had left to try and defend myself for a few more seconds, a small blast of fire shot out from my hands and hit the behemoth in the face, pushing it back. I think I pissed it off more than hurt it, prolonging my short life by just a few more seconds.

My vision was going. The blood from my wounds started to make a puddle underneath me. I knew I was going to die. I realized that I had lost all of my strength right after I dropped the pole I was carrying as I buckled over in unison with the pole. As my vision blurred even more all I could see were big blotches of colour. Mainly the blue of the behemoth. Barely able to lift my head I hear the scream of a woman about to attack something.

The woman's scream was shortly followed by the behemoth, but with the behemoth it was hard to tell if it was a scream of annoyance or agony. I assumed it was in agony as I heard a loud crash and felt a small earthquake.

I tried to get a glimpse of what was going on just before I passed out but all I could see was the blue of the behemoth followed by a small patch of pink.

And then everything went black.

* * *

A/N: Hey look at that and this only took me two days to write!

-cheers-

Hopefully people wont mind the cliffhanger. Just take a guess and who the woman is.

And hopefully people actually enjoy this….

I know its not much to start on because it's all just been my OC, but bear with me as you can assume at least one person who's going to be introduced in the next chapter.

R&R plox?


	2. Wait I'm Where?

Hey I wasn't expecting all the favourites and positive comments :P

Also just to calm nerves, about my updating speed. We'll all be lucky if I can keep it weekly. (English, Biology, Physics, and Computer Science in one semester is hard) I try to write a bit at a time so we'll see where my ideas take me and hopefully I won't butcher this story. (I tend to do that halfway in)

At some point I may start asking my fic friends for pointers and whatnot. You guys have NO idea how many failed stories I've deleted because the plot started getting dry.

And damn this chapter was hard for me to write. I don't know why. I worry about the final product of this chapter.

But yea who knows. XD

Anywho I bet that cliffhanger annoyed a few, so we shall continue!

**Also I'll say it now the spoilers start at this chapter.**

Disclaimer: See chapter 1.

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Chapter 2: Wait I'm where?

Noises. I heard noises, but my headache wouldn't allow me to figure out what those noises were. I tried opening my eyes at one point. It was blurry and I could barely see any colour. I gave myself five more minutes and my senses slowly began to come back to me. The noises were people's voices.

"Is he going to be okay? And how far along did you say he was?" A man's voice.

"His body is responding to the healing spells and the potions, so he's alive and doing well, I don't know what condition his mind would be in from a near death experience like that though. Also the branding seems to be quite new. No alterations on it's appearance yet." A younger man's voice.

The first man ruffled some papers and opened the door to the room we were in. "Okay, good, I'm going to tell Light. Hope, you should stay here with him just in case."

Light? Hope? You've gotta be kidding. Now that I think of it the first guy sounded like Snow.

I grunted and slowly began to open my eyes. Coughing a bit I tried to sit myself up when a hand came to help me up.

"Here let me adjust your pillow." The hand kept my back up as the energy started to flow back into my body. My eyes fully open now I looked over at the person helping me.

"H-H-HOPE?!?"

Yelling right next to some one's ear seems like a bad idea after you do it. The poor kid jumped back a bit scared, thinking he hurt me.

"I-I'm sorry did I touch your wound? I thought they all healed. I'll go grab a potion!" Before I could tell him to wait he ran out of the room.

Holy crap, I just met Hope. THE Hope. This is tripping me out. I'm also slowing coming to grips with the fact that this may not be a dream. Almost dying twice, and falling asleep IN the dream kinda says something. I was contemplating pinching myself, but I think getting clipped in the back by a behemoth and getting thrown into a wall seemed like a hard enough of a hit for me.

I paused to observe my surroundings. The room had a few older electronics. I saw an old heart rate monitor next to what I thought was a rusted generator. I think they were just using it on me when they weren't sure of my condition. The generator wasn't the only thing that was rusted though. There was a small staircase going to a top floor that was rusted as well as a lot of large electronics and machinery that didn't seem operational on that floor.

I hopped out of my bed, whatever medicine they gave me worked wonders. I felt as if they fed me to, but that may have just been the medicine. I looked around and realized that they had used my t-shirt (or what was left of it) as a towel so I was effectively using the bandages wrapped around my body as a shirt.

As soon as I walked outside I almost had a double-take. Everywhere you turned you saw plants growing. The roads were bordered by flowers and bushes and at the front of every doorstep people had planters and green grass growing. As I took a few steps down I heard some footsteps running quickly down the sideroad to the room I was in.

I looked over into the sideroad and saw Hope running toward me with a small blue container. He stopped right in front of me, it looked like he was going to fall over.

His outfit was different from the one he wore in the game. It was now comprised of a plaid-blue button down shirt that was open and a green t-shirt underneath. He was also wearing grey jeans and black hiking boots. It was odd but cool at the same time.

"Yo dude sorry for scaring you back there. I'm Eric by the way." Ahh crap, how the hell was I going to explain I knew about them? I can't just turn around and play dumb. Then they'd think I was actually retarded.

"Hey Eric, It's alright I kinda jumped back a bit when you yelled my name like that. Did you overhear me talking with my friend just before you came to?" He still looked slightly nervous talking to me so I did my best not to scare him now.

"Thanks for everything you guys did. I wasn't exactly planning on dying on my first day here." Hope looked up at me confused.

"Your first day here? What do you mean?" Ahh crap. How could I be so loose minded? I guess I should let them know, but I'll talk to them as a group.

"Ugh, sorry I have a lot I need to talk about specifically to you Snow and the others." Confused even more Hope looked at the blue jar in his hands.

"Uhh what's this about? You see some stuff happened and everyone's kinda all over the place." He moved his hand to cover his left wrist as he said this. Isn't that where his L'Cie mark used to be?

"Aww crap you guys too….again?" I think I scared him yet again as he responded, "w-w-what do you mean again? H-how did you know that it happened before?"

Ugh I'm just brilliant today.

"Yea…that's what I need to talk to you guys about. Look I'm going to refrain from saying anything that might scare you further. I don't know what the time limit on this L'Cie mark is, but whenever you manage to gather everyone I really need to talk. Don't take this in an odd way, but I'm not from Cocoon or Pulse. That doesn't mean I'm some type of alien or anything, I'm still human, but I'm not from this….uhh….dimension."

As I slowed down to think about what the hell I was saying. Hope looked at me as if I were crazy. Can't really blame the kid now, I thought I was going crazy myself. I took a deep breath and look at him again.

"Alright wanna forget about everything I just said and start from scratch?" I was about to smile when a strong hand grabbed my shoulder and engulfed me in what could possibly be the strongest bear-hug I've ever gotten.

"HEY BUDDY! WE'RE SO GLAD YOU SURVIVED!" The voice belonged to Snow. Not being able to breathe I couldn't reply as he was taking away the life that he just tried to save.

"Hhgghh! Hhggh!" Was all I could muster.

When he put me down I couldn't help but cough and try to breathe again. I think the man did try to kill me at some point in that hug.

"Hey Snow. I really hope you didn't open any wounds, Light would be pretty pissed if you made us waste resources like that." Hope's voice sounded much stronger talking to Snow than he did talking to me. I guess that would prove that he was scared to talk to me.

"Aww sis can handle casting an extra Cure spell, can't she?" He chuckled a bit.

I turned around after my coughing fit to observe the big man. I swear to God he's taller than 6'6". He wasn't wearing his trademark jacket which was kinda disappointing. Now he was wearing a sleeve-less hoodie which was the same colour as his old jacket with a black t-shirt underneath. He still wore the scarf around his waist, as well as the grey pants, boots and of course the toque.

"Hey man thanks for saving my life, I'm Eric, I guess I owe you guys one." I stuck my hand out to shake his to which he accepted. I was glad he didn't try to bear hug me again.

"Heh no problem, but if you really want someone to thank it should be Lightning. She was the one who found you and brought you back." I thought about that for a second.

Lightning…..saved my life? Holy crap. I don't know whether I should be happy about that or embarrassed at how our first "meeting" ended up. Coming back to reality I looked over at Snow. I should probably tell them now, just to try and get through to them before Lightning and Sazh. Maybe Snow wouldn't be as skeptical towards my story.

"Okay look, there's something I really need to tell you guys. You may think I'm crazy, but I can't tell you how serious this is." Snow looked serious, I think Hope still thought I was a little loose.

"I'm not quite sure how I should start this…I'm not from Pulse or Cocoon. I shouldn't be here." Now Snow looked confused.

"What do you mean you're not from Cocoon or Pulse? Then where are you from? Are there other worlds out there?" Hope's eye's lit up as he asked the question. I assume he wants to believe me from that expression. And this was the hard part, explaining to them that this world isn't supposed to be real although that argument could be easily debated. Seeing as I was actually in this fictional world and the events that are transpiring did not happen in the original storyline.

"I think all I'm going to say now is that I shouldn't be here, I'll explain later when everyone's gathered together." Hope looked slightly let down, but he agreed.

"Everyone should be returning in a few hours. We all do separate tasks and the whole town benefits. For example, Snow and I stay behind today to keep the place safe, Lightning and a few other friends of ours go out to gather food and supplies to sustain the community." Hope took it upon himself to explain how their village works, which rose another question.

"Where are we exactly? When I passed out I was at the entrance to Ma'habara." Hope quickly replied.

"You are in the village of Oerba. Originally the town was a wasteland until last year when we initially settled in. We found a nearby source of fresh water. Since then we've tried to......we've cultivated the area for……" Hope stopped as his voice was getting hoarse. Snow quickly finished for him.

"We've tried to make the town look as it used to in the past. It's in memory of some old friends." He stopped there but he didn't have to explain. Fang and Vanille were probably going to be forever crystallized holding Cocoon back from destroying Pulse. They worked to make the town look as it used to, lively and filled with flowers. I grabbed Hope's shoulder and pat him on the back.

"Hey man you don't have to explain everything if the details are too personal." I did know what happened already, but I don't think now's the best time to tell them.

"If you guys want I could probably try to help around. I may not be strong enough to fight off monsters, but I'm good with machinery. Maybe I could fix a few of the machines around here, assuming the technology in this world isn't as different as it is in my world." Would you look at that? Taking engineering in university is actually paying off. Hope looked elated.

"H-hey if you know how to work with machinery is it possible at all if I could watch? I would like to learn a bit just so I could get some of the stuff around here working on my own." He smiled at me and I smiled back.

"Sure! It'll also give me some time to think out how I'm going to explain myself to you guys. Do you guys have a stable and renewable source of power? We may need it just to give some of the machines a jump start." Hope took my arm and led me back into the room I was sleeping in.

"Yea we managed to rout power through to the majority of the houses in the town." As we went in Snow looked at the sun and then looked back at us.

"Hey, you two go have some fun. I'm going to come back later. Gotta check up on my wife as well as Sazh's kid." He saluted us off and left us. Hope climbed the rusty staircase and started rummaging through the machinery and electronics.

"Alright let's get started!" He slowly came down holding a variety of smaller electronics.

It looked like I had some things to do. Looking back this was pretty awesome, I met Hope and Snow and we're in Oerba. I'm still alive. I would've almost been ecstatic if it weren't for the fact I still had this L'Cie mark to worry about. I should probably discuss magic casting with Hope, but that wasn't really on my mind. There was one thing that I couldn't stop thinking about.

In a few hours I'm going to meet Lightning.

* * *

WOOOO finally done this chapter.

It didn't seem all that great to me but I'll leave the critiques to you beautiful people.

For some reason listening to Beautiful Dangerous by Slash helped me think. No idea why.

Anywho I'm going to try and write another chapter before Monday, but I have other obligations that are unfortunately more important, so if I can't get it done by Monday there's a good chance it'll be another week before I update.

I hope this chapter seemed properly written. To me everything makes sense, but this may be because I wrote it. Also god bless Firefox spellcheck because MS Word's sucks.

R&R please! :)


	3. Hi, I'm a huge fan

Okay so let's see what I've come up with this time :P

Sorry again for the delayed updates…I wasn't expecting the workload I got this week :'(

Quick summary: Eric woke up in Oerba which has been revitalized and restored to its former glory thanks to Lightning, Hope, Snow, Sazh, and Serah as well as the other townspeople. After meeting Snow and Hope, Eric was told the whole community would be together later that evening. In the meantime Eric and Hope were working together to fix machinery.

Disclaimer: Chapter 1

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Chapter 3: Hi, I wish I could say I'm your biggest fan.

So it turns out that Pulsian technology and Cocoon technology is exactly the same as ours. Also, Hope is a fast learner. In a matter of two hours we restored about 8 walkie talkies, 2 portable generators, and various other items that seemed to be useful. He also seemed really interested in this kinda stuff which was a plus.

"I never knew you could attach the power wires straight to the board. Are they still gonna work?" Hope questioned me over my shoulder as I worked on the last walkie talkie.

"Yeah it'll be fine. It's not really how the powerlines are connected, its more about how much power is going into it. Too much all at once would fry any electronic." I explained to him as much as I could without getting really technical, but he seemed like a sponge, memorizing everything I told him.

We ended up getting along really well. As we continued to fix up various other electronics someone knocked on the door. Hope was busy so I opened the door and standing before me was Bartholomew Estheim with a couple of bottles and some food.

"Oh hello sir, I take it you're here to see Hope?" I looked over at Hope working on whichever electronic he found next. Bartholomew nodded and continued to stare at me.

"So you're the man they found in front of Mah'habara? I'm Bartholomew Estheim, Hope's father, nice to meet you." I wiped my hand with the leftover bandages and shook his.

"Eric York, nice to meet you." It was nice that he accepted me that quickly, it was probably because I was getting along with Hope.

"I've brought some food and drinks for you boys. Snow told me that you were working on fixing some electronics…" He paused and observed the growing pile of now-working electronics and was shocked.

"This is incredible, you've only been working on it for a few hours and you've gotten this much done? Even Sazh was having trouble with these older ones." He put the food on the nearby table and walked over to Hope. Hope looked up and smiled.

"Hey dad, are the others back yet?" He saw the food and put down the electronics.

"They should be back in another hour or so. Serah prepared food for their return and she let me take some for you two." I looked at the food on the table and my stomach growled. Serah's home cooking huh? It should be really good. I moved aside the tools on the table as Bartholomew set the food down. Megistotherian roast, with potatoes and various other vegetables. Yep Serah can cook. We all sat down and ate. During the meal I asked Bartholomew about how the rest of the village works. He told me the other citizens tend to do various jobs within the community. Few fight simply because they are not as powerful as the L'Cie. He explained to me when Lightning, Hope, Snow, and Sazh lost their brands they still retained a large amount of the magic and strength they had when they were L'Cie.

"Naturally they would go out to hunt wild animals and defend the town while the other citizens would work together on rebuilding the town. Five hundred years of damage takes much time to repair. We have managed to repair probably 60% of the city, but we are still hard at work. To make the future brighter for the next generations..." Bartholomew looked over at Hope who was too busy with his roast to pay attention to the conversation.

As we finished up the late lunch Hope told me he remembered something and rushed outside. Bartholomew cleaned up the table and I organized the newly fixed electronics. A few minutes later Hope came running back holding a necklace.

"Here, this was on you when we got here. It was covered in blood so Serah cleaned it. She wants to know where you got this. Apparently Lightning has the exact same one." And when I observed the necklace I realized something. It was the necklace I ordered from a Japanese online store. It was a replica of Lightning's pendant.

Shit. I really hope it didn't have any special meaning to Lightning. It's going to be hard to explain this one without telling them everything.

"Holy crap, uhh thanks. Yea this probably goes with what I need to tell you guys later. Would it suffice to just say I bought it where I'm from?" Hope looked a bit confused, but nodded and gave me the pendant.

"I'm pretty sure it'll all make sense when you do explain. Honestly I'm really confused. Also I think Light's going to be happy with all the work you've helped us do in such little time. She was really pissed off when she got here, saying you lost way too much blood, and hoping you didn't die on the way. If it weren't for the teleporting Cie'th stone at the entrance you definitely would've died." He had a tendency of sidetracking his thoughts saying too much at times. I cringed at the thought of dying, it just wasn't my thing. Bartholomew moved over and hit Hope on the back of the head. Right before he was about to tell Hope not to be so blunt about things a voice was heard from outside the door.

"Who was really pissed off huh?" That voice. My heart skipped a beat. Not only did I have that 'gamer-crush' on Lightning but she did end up saving my life. She walked into the room. Her outfit was drastically different like Hope's. She still looked like a 'soldier' with the boots and the red pack, not to mention her trademark gunblade slung around her hips. But the brown skirt she wore was now dark green and she also wore a purple button down shirt with a white t-shirt underneath. She still wore the various leather belts around her waist and armbands…and she was wearing the necklace.

Hope almost beamed when she walked in.

"Hey Light! The guy you saved is perfectly fine and he actually helped us a ton with some repairs today." It took me a few seconds to wipe the retarded expression of awe off my face. I walked up to her and stuck my hand out. It was awkward.

"H-hi, thanks for saving my life. I'm Eric." She looked down at my hand with her cold blue eyes and shook it.

"No problem," she looked back at Hope, "Sazh went to Serah's place to get Dajh we should probably have a meeting soon, I found some things around the Steppe, specifically around Mah'habara and Sulyya."

Hope looked over at me and then back at Lightning.

"Actually Light that's great. Eric here really needs to tell us something and it's actually quite important."

Lightning turned away from Hope to look at me when she closed in on the necklace.

"How did you? Where did you get-?" She stared at me a bit more and then grabbed my arm. "Hope, stay here for a sec. I gotta talk to this guy."

She dragged me out of the room and walked down the alleyway a bit before she stopped. She turned around and glared at me as she asked.

"Where the hell did you get that necklace?"

Shit. It did have some sentimental value. Damn the internet for not coming up with a story behind it.

"Uhh, you see, this goes hand-in-hand with what I gotta explain to everyone. It looks like you're really mad about this. If it makes you feel better I don't have to wear it. I can put it away if you want."

Her intensity slowly dwindled and she calmed down. She looked at mine and then at her own.

"It's just that this was something that I had designed back on Cocoon at a jewellery shop. When I was sixteen… This should've only been one of a kind…" Her expression softened even more as she stared at it.

For a few minutes she looked incredibly vulnerable as she was deep in thought.

"It's probably just a coincidence…" She turned around again and called Hope and Bartholomew from the room. They came out with a large bag of the electronics that were fixed and followed me who followed Lightning through the newly built streets of Oerba.

We ended up in a large plaza with a few houses and Serah was standing there with Snow, Sazh, and Dajh. There was a large fire and they were sitting around it using tree trunks and metal boxes as chairs. Serah was wearing a short white skirt with a red t-shirt and a thin pink jacket. We walked up to them and Serah handed me an article of clothing. It was a black t-shirt and a green hoodie. She smiled.

"They told me your shirt got pretty destroyed so I made you these." I thanked her and put the clothing on when it dawned on me.

"You made these?" I turned to Hope, "how long was I out for?" Hope looked at the ground nervously and then back to me.

"You've been sleeping for three days. You lost a LOT of blood, so we let you rest it out." That would mean I've been in Pulse for four days now.

As I pondered that Lightning grabbed my shoulder and pushed me towards Snow and Serah. I was now in the middle of the group and Lightning said, "Well you have something you need to explain. So we're all listening now. Where are you from?"

* * *

After a good hour of explanations we made it to this point.

"So you're trying to tell me that our lives were just some fictional storyline made up for some video game?" I nodded, not really wanting to say anything that could anger Lightning further. Snow was whispering to Sazh when he stopped to calm Lightning down. That's when I decided to say something that could either save my ass or kill my right there.

"Well if you think about it doesn't me being here prove that everything is real? That and the fact that the events that are currently happening now never happened in the game is more proof that this world is more than just a game." Lightning took a deep breath and calmed down. She got angry as quickly as she calmed down, so that's probably a good thing.

After some more discussion I ended up having to explain the necklace as well.

"Well I'll bet the same applied to people of Cocoon who were fans of anything. I bought this pendant because I'm a huge fan…" I was embarrassed to say 'of Lightning' so I ended up saying "…of the game."

The reception I got from the others looked good. They didn't instantly dismiss me as psychopathic and listened to my whole story. I told them everything I knew and was forced to use personal scenes from the game to prove I wasn't crazy because the story of the Pulse L'Cie on Cocoon was well known across Pulse now. They were a little disturbed that I knew such details like how Sazh and Vanille got to Nautilus or when Hope tried to kill Snow in Palumpolum, but they believed me which took a huge weight off my shoulders.

After a while Lightning stood up from the tree trunk she was sitting on and began to talk about her travels for the day.

"Basically the Pulse fal'Cie are back. The destruction of Orphan didn't actually make them dissapear. Thankfully the world of Pulse isn't connected to the fal'Cie. They live here in the same sense we do. They can't control every aspect of Pulse like the Sanctum fal'Cie could control every aspect of Cocoon. I still don't know why or how we've been branded again, but I did find some new pathways around Sulyya Springs. There seems to be a way for us to reach other areas of Pulse now." She looked up into the night sky and then to Snow.

"I need to go with a bigger group to explore those areas I'm taking Snow and Sazh. Any objections?" I looked at Sazh who looked like he wanted to complain as he held onto his son. Sazh was wearing almost the same outfit from the game but he wasn't wearing his green jacket and Dajh was wearing a light blue t-shirt and jeans. I looked back at Lightning and had an idea.

"How about I go instead? Sazh has Dajh to worry about. If I go it'll also keep stronger people here to protect the town." Lightning glared at me and she was about to say something when she was interrupted by a loud shriek from the other side of the town. She sighed and grabbed her weapon.

"Everyone grab a weapon from the inventory, you wanna come with us Eric? Now's the chance to prove yourself." Hope showed me to the inventory and I found a pair of katanas. They were the only weapons that I had any remote experience with back home, when I took classes with them.

We ran to the other end of the city and around 20 Cie'th, many Seekers and a few Vampires, were being held back by the townspeople who were shooting at them. They stopped when they saw Lightning run past the barricade and rush the first Vampire. When the rest of us caught up with her the people began to cheer and applaud as our group began to fight the monsters.

Lightning and Hope were focusing on one Vampire while Snow was working on the other. Sazh and I were attacking the Seekers as they got closer to the barricade. I couldn't really do much seeing as the only spell I could cast was Fire as everyone else was casting Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga, and Waterga. Sazh saw me struggling when he yelled to me.

"Yo Eric! Try to feel what you wanna cast in your head! Be careful not to put too much power into it! If you overpower your attacks you could pass out!" Overpower attacks? I didn't know that was possible.

Three Seekers made their way towards me and I took Sazh's advice. I drew the heat energy from my brand and blasted the three Seekers with a much stronger Fira spell. Right after that I knew what Sazh meant by overpowering, my head began to hurt after the spell was cast. One of the seekers got up again as it's companions disintegrated. It moved much quicker as a white ball of energy started growing from it's hand. It jumped and smashed the ball of energy into the ground.

I used my arms to brace myself for the blast. The energy began to sear and numb my arms but the feeling went away almost instantly. I was left with the feeling of being pushed back as my arms weren't numb anymore. I looked at the Seeker and realized I was being protected by a Shell spell. I looked over at Sazh who gave me a thumbs up and yelled my thanks back to him.

I slashed at the Seeker that was trying to regain it's balance and it disintegrated. When I looked over at the rest of the battle the Seekers were more or less taken care of by Sazh who was already helping Snow fight another Vampire. I turned my attention to Hope and Lightning. They were fighting 3 Vampires at once and Hope looked like he was having trouble keeping them both healed. Without thinking I rushed in and slashed at one of their backs. My slash was then followed by Lightning stabbing it through the chest. As it broke up another Vampire hit Lightning and sent her crashing into Hope. She was covered in blood and Hope was knocked out.

As Lightning was getting up the Vampire that attacked her started to charge towards her in preparation for another attack. She wasn't going to make it in time and she had no energy to counter efficiently. I panicked. She needed to recover and attack or else they would definitely kill her. I rushed in, but instead of casting Fira again I thought of speed and power and cast the first thing that came to my head. Instantly a red circle appeared around Lightning and she was glowing pink. And she recovered almost instantly and attacked both Vampires with one swift slash. They both disintegrated and she turned around to cast Raise on Hope. When he came to they both healed each other and Lightning looked at me.

"Thanks. I don't know how you managed it but you cast Haste and Bravera on me." It turns out spell casting isn't as hard as I thought it was.

A few minutes later the last of the Vampires were taken care of much more easily as their numbers dwindled. Everyone sat down and tried to slow her heavy breathing. Serah and Dajh ran up to Snow and Sazh and began asking everyone if they were okay.

I glanced at Lightning who looked like she didn't even break a sweat even though she was almost about to get killed back there. A little more confident in my abilities I sat down next to her and asked her,

"So does this mean I can go with you? I would hate to have to break up Sazh and Dajh in case this becomes a much longer quest." She contemplated the idea and then said,

"Well tomorrow we're just going to check out the new areas. If they appear to be too big to explore in one day we'll come back and prepare for a longer trip. You can come with us, if you can also try to learn Raise and at least Cure then it would probably be better to bring you than it would be to bring Sazh or Hope."

It's true at least…I didn't have a family to go back home to anyway…I smiled at Lightning and got up. It was really late. We all packed up our things and went to sleep. Serah told me that she would prepare a room for me tomorrow when I was out with Lightning and Snow. I told her it wasn't necessary but she insisted.

"It's our way of saying thank you for everything you've done so far. Also we can't let you stay in that storage shed forever, it would be rude to our newest citizen." The thought of living here made me happy.

"Thank you," I looked at everyone, "if it weren't for you guys I'd definitely be dead now." Serah smiled and began to push me to my temporary room.

"Okay you should go to sleep now like everyone else, you guys gotta get up bright and early tomorrow morning!" I chuckled and made it back to my room on my own.

Once I got there I lay down in the bed and waited for sleep to come.

* * *

Damn, long chapter.

Again sorry for the epic delay I'm expecting chapter 4 might not take that long because it's going to be short. Chapter 5 however might be another week as I return to the typical chapter length. I hope this isn't too boring for you guys to read!


	4. Intermission

Auright! Mini chapter time!

This is a little intermission (not really but whatever lol)

Basically this scene was just something I cooked up when I was at work today. (Actually I wrote out the main parts of it all on receipt paper…haha)

I'm changed the POV on this chapter just to try something out. YOU GUYS SHOULD REVIEW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK YAH? :P

Seriously if more people like third-person I may finish the story in third (Don't worry I won't just randomly start using it like I did this chapter. I'll TRY to tastefully integrate it. Hurr hurr.) I'm noticing less people are reading each chapter as the story progresses, maybe this change will attract more readers?

Also I kinda need some help with the intro summary. I need it to me more enticing than it is (You know attract some fresh meat and whatnot)…I suck with summaries and help would be greatly appreciated.

-is shameless-

Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: Chapter 1.

* * *

Chapter 4: Intermission

_He sat on an old, eroded, brick wall staring at the ocean. In his hand was one of his katanas which he swung around through the air at times. The cold ocean air felt nice and almost calming on his skin, but the adrenaline from the events earlier today kept him from sleep. _

_Hearing soft footsteps behind him he turned around to see a pink haired woman walking up to him._

"_Hey Eric," she said while climbing up the wall. He stuck out his hand to help her up and she took a seat right next to him. _

"_Hey Lightning, you can't sleep either?" He sheathed his sword as she answered._

"_I wasn't tired so I decided to keep watch for a while." She took off her gunblade sheath and put it down next to her as she looked up and closed her eyes. She looked so serene one wouldn't have guessed she was an ex-soldier._

_He was staring at her until she opened her eyes._

"_Are you going to be alright tomorrow? You may be able to cast Haste and Bravery but you will need a little more than that if you want to be an efficient spellcaster." Her voice was soft as she continued. "You may want to learn how to cast Cure. At least to defend yourself."_

_He chuckled._

"_What's so funny? Learning the most efficient spells could make the difference between life and death." She retorted, her voice getting sharper._

"_I realize that, but just a few hours ago when I brought it up you looked pretty pissed about it. What's with the change of heart?" He looked at her and she was looking down at her boots. She was wearing the same outfit but with a red scarf around her neck as well._

"_I just don't want to have to worry about you getting hurt because you can't defend yourself as well as Snow or I can. It's hard for someone who's just become a L'Cie to control their powers." He smiled._

"_I'll get the hang of it. It just hurts me to see a father and his son get split up so much. Especially when they've already been through so much…"_

_She was looking at him now as he stared into the horizon. She wanted to inquire further about his opinion but decided against it._

_After a few minutes in silence together she jumped off the ledge and onto the ground._

"_Come on. If you're not tired then we can spar for a while." He looked incredibly amused now._

"_Spar? With you? You've gotta be kidding. You take enjoyment in beating the crap out of people? Damn sadist." This time she smiled, though it was more of a smirk._

"_Don't worry. I'll go easy on you."_

_

* * *

_

_Half an hour later they were both quite out of breath. He much more so than she. _

_He managed to learn Blizzard during their battle, but it did little to turn the tide in his favor._

_From the fight she took some notes on his fighting style and recommended he fight with only one sword. Taking her advice, he found more power when he held the weapon with two hands and at one point managed to push her back before she countered and continued what was more or less a one-sided fight._

_He moved back to the wall where he caught his ragged breath. She got up and sat next to him again._

"_You have a pretty good technique. Were you trained in your world?" He smirked._

"_Heh, I took a few classes, but nothing really dedicated, just the basics to using weapons. No super special techniques or epic deathblows." She nodded._

"_That's why. I thought it was strange for a civilian to have such a decent grasp on using a weapon of that caliber." He shrugged._

"_It's still not enough to handle a half dead Behemoth King." She chuckled a bit and he smiled at the reaction._

"_So how are you finding our world? It used to be as technologically advanced as your world was, but you know what happened…" He sighed heavily._

"_I love it. Would you believe me if I said I didn't want to leave?" She looked quite shocked as he said it._

"_How come? I'd imagine you have friends and family you have left behind. Won't your parents miss you?"_

"_Ehh…I have a few classmates that I talk to once in a while, but other than that there's really no one else. My dad ran away when he found out my mom was pregnant with me, the son of a bitch didn't even give her any money to raise me. I was left with my mom who worked two to three odd jobs every week just to support us. When I turned 18 she died, and I never met my grandparents. I don't really have anything preventing me from staying here." He was looking into his hands. She put her arm over his shoulders and tried to be as reassuring as possible._

"_Look, I know how hard it is too loose your parents…I lost both of mine when I was fifteen and Serah was twelve. The reason I was so shocked about the necklace was because it was supposed to represent that time…When I changed my name and took a personal oath to keep Serah safe. If you truly want to stay with us then by all means, we'll welcome you with open arms." She moved her arm and grew silent as she thought about what she told him. _

"_Thanks Lightning. It means a lot that you can accept me like this." She genuinely smiled._

"_Call me Light."_

_

* * *

_

See? Short chapter._  
_

Comments? Criticisms? Do tell. I'm open to anything.

See you all next week with the latest installment. (Unless I get lucky and manage to finish it during the week, but don't hold yer breath.)

Thanks to everyone who's still has an interest in this fic.


	5. Try not to trip and die now, mkay?

Thanks to the few people who sent me PM's for the reviews last week, yea wasn't working well for me then, but everything was quickly fixed since. :P

So I have my general consensus. I know what I shall be doing POV style. It will be a change that occurs soon I hope. You'll just have to keep reading to see.

So do I have more than 5 fans or am I just writing this for you 5? Tee Hee.

Also, Lightning becomes a horrible medic during post-credits play o.O

Hahah I keep thinking "gem" is spelt "jem" damn guitars….

Disclaimer: Chapter 1

* * *

Chapter 5: Try not to trip and die now, mkay?

Head pounding. Not good. Must massage.

Ugh I stayed up talking with Light till the moon was directly over us. I would assume we were up past midnight. Bad idea when you had to wake up before sunrise…

_Knock knock knock!_

"I'm coming!" I struggled to move my ass out of the bed and finally got to the door. I was greeted with a short pink head looking up at me with a huge smile.

"Morning Eric!" Serah came to wake me up, how thoughtful.

"Hey Serah, lemme guess. Light is already awake impatiently pacing around her room waiting for me and Snow?" She was slightly shocked.

"It's scary how well you know us sometimes…" I chuckled.

"Sorry, I tend to pickup on the personalities of the characters in games I play. It adds more depth to the game versus just looking at it as a 'go beat the bad guy' thing." She smiled again.

"Heh, I guess that's a good thing. Now come on before Éclair tries to wake Snow up by lighting him on fire."

"You know Serah, that raises the question as to why you didn't wake him up yourself?" She rolled her eyes.

"You can't wake him up when he's hibernating. He only responds to physical pain and my genuine screams." Screams? I just stared at her.

"It was a big cockroach! It was scary! He woke up the instant I screamed. I tried faking it one time but he gave no response." She pouted as we continued to walk towards the plaza.

To nobody's surprise, Lightning was pacing around the plaza with an incredibly irritated expression. When she saw us she softened it a bit, but she was still obviously pissed.

"Go wake up your ogre of a husband before I burn him." Serah and I snickered when she said it, but we stopped when she glared at us.

"Sure sis, I'll try some more 'resourceful tactics'." She ran up a staircase into a house at the plaza. It looked small enough to house Light, Snow, and Serah. Also, it was pink. Definitely Serah's idea.

She left me and Light by ourselves, for some reason there was quite a lot of tension. She didn't seem like a happy morning person. Might as well try to stir up a conversation to kill this horrid tension…

"So…uhh Snow seems like the snoring-type. I can't imagine you guys sleeping in the same house together peacefully."

"He does. It's annoying. But we have something to remedy that."

"Hmm? Like what?"

"You'll find out when it happens." Confused, I left the conversation at that. She seems to be in a lighter mood. She sighed and stretched her arms out.

"Here comes sleeping beauty now." And Serah was walking down the steps with Snow who was holding several bags.

"So how did she wake you up?" Lightning inquired.

"Uh…you don't really wanna know." He blushed.

"Yes I do, I want to keep it in mind for the future."

"Well…you asked for it…she….uhh…pretended to be you…and….uhh…" He started blushing harder.

"She pretended to be me and WHAT?" She looked angry again and his face turned a deep red.

"She….jumped on me….said 'I shouldn't be doing this to Serah's husband but..' and kissed me." Snow was staring at the ground and Serah tried to hide behind him.

Lightning Farron's face lit up so red it was darker than her hair.

"SERAH FARRON DO YOU THINK YOU'RE FUNNY?"

I tried to be useful now.

"Hey come on, cut her some slack. It worked."

Lightning cooled off a bit but she was still pissed.

We gave her a few minutes to talk to Serah. Various profanities could be heard from Lightning as well as the phrase "Do I look like a sexual whore to you?!?" Snow and I knew better than to laugh.

We set up a table for our early-morning breakfast and Light discussed our strategy for the day.

"If the monsters we encounter are anything like the typical Pulse creatures then we should be fine. No real need for any overplanned strategies. However, if we end up facing something more forceful we should probably have our specific roles. I'm going to be attacking and healing, Snow is going to be attacking and drawing the enemy's attention while defending, and Eric can be an attacker and also a back-up supporter in case we really do get in a fix. Haste and Bravera are incredibly useful even if it's all you can cast at the moment." I was glad she acknowledged me.

"Also, Eric, when we practised last night I noted something about the way you fight. You like to attack and back away a lot. I realize you were intimidated a little, but I have a weapon you may want to try. I think you would like it a little more." She pulled out something I didn't expect. It was Fang's red spear.

"L-L-Light….I…are you sure? I mean that's-"

"Take it. She'd probably be more pissed off if it wasn't getting any use." I took the weapon and got up to try it.

I spun it around. It felt light in my hands. I even found the latches that split the weapon into three parts. It clicked and split apart, held together by a chain inside the spear.

"Jeez, did Fang design this? Whoever did is a genius." Snow chuckled and Light smiled.

Another voice came into our conversation.

"Actually Vanille designed it. She told me it was a birthday present for Fang that was made by someone in their village centuries ago. Little bugger was quite smart." Sazh took a seat next to Snow and Dajh sat next to him. I put Fang's spear away and we finished our meal. The gift in itself spoke volumes of how much Light trusted me. It made me pretty damn happy.

* * *

We prepared to leave. Serah packed a large bag with potions, a few phoenix downs, and various other healing materials. Light and Snow both hugged her goodbye as Sazh came up to me to say goodbye.

"Hey man, thanks for what you're doing. I couldn't really have said no to Lightning if it weren't for you. It's really a pain when I gotta leave the kid here as I go and keep fighting. I'm not gettin' any younger, but Lightning doesn't seem to notice…"

"Heh no problem. You should pretend to throw out your back or something then she'll stop asking." He chuckled.

"You know what man? That's not a half-bad idea."

"Hey you two. Cut the chit-chat. We're leaving now." Lightning almost felt like a drill sergeant which was ironic considering her old military title.

* * *

We took the Cie'th stone from Oerba to Sulyya Springs. It wasn't really much of a noteworthy trip. You would have felt an odd suction feeling against your skin and then you would just 'pop' out of your current location to your planned location.

When we arrived the place looked exactly the same however there was a new hill right where we got off. It went down to a flat area that led into a forest. It was where the team used to be dropped off by Atomos. According to Light it stays in Mah'habara more than anything and rarely leaves it now.

We travelled to the entrance of the forest. There was a small pathway that hadn't seen humans in over 500 years. It was wide enough to allow breathing space for the three of us, but it definitely wasn't wide enough if we were to get into a long confrontation.

The dense forest seemed endless, there were no flowers or bushes, just tall trees blocking out the sun making the path incredibly dark.

Lightning took the lead and Snow stayed behind the group.

"Don't try to make much noise. You can still walk normally, but don't say anything unless it's important, and if you have to, you better whisper." Light didn't turn around as she said this, she just kept moving forward.

* * *

A few hours later we decided to call a lunch break and we found a nice spot on the path where we could sit.

As we had our meal we conversed about the village.

"Serah takes it upon herself to do the communal cooking. She's usually aided by a few others in the village. As you found out she's also become quite the seamstress. She also started a school in the village where she teaches the village kids things like math, English, and history." Lightning commended her sister very well.

"Yea and Sazh and Hope usually help the other villagers with building houses. Right now we still have many families living under a single roof. During the day people are usually in the process of building houses, making tools or weapons, or entertaining the other villagers. It's a quaint little village, but it's nice. No government to worry about, no tension among others, everyone works alongside everyone else." Snow finished the sandwich after his sentence.

We got up and prepared to head off again. We would've been lost had it not have been for Light marking the trees as we travelled.

As we walked down the seemingly endless path we heard the crashing noise of trees falling followed by a monster's shriek. It was getting louder so we all readied ourselves.

Moments later the trees in the direction of the shriek were uprooted and viciously thrown to the left and right of our group. The cause of the disturbance was a giant monster. It was incredibly muscular. It looked like a bodybuilder but it was a towering 8 feet tall. It was wearing some type of bondage mask, and through the eye holes it had small deep red eyes that almost looked like sharp gems. It's eyes contrasted against its bright green skin. It resembled a Gigas from previous games, but instead of being a large, fat, creature it was incredibly well built and could probably dent a strong metal just by grabbing it too tightly.

It let out another shriek and proceeded to attack. It's fists went flailing towards Snow who absorbed every single hit without staggering backwards at all. Lightning healed him and then attacked the monster with a series of kicks and light slashes, probably to get it's attention while Snow recovered.

I cast Fira and Blizzard. The Gigas didn't react to the fire but it jumped back when the ice hit it.

"GOOD!" Lightning yelled. "Find it's weakness and exploit it!" Snow laughed a bit.

"It's weak to ice? Perfect." He jumped in and started attacking. His fists would sparkle after every hit. He was using his 'froststrike' ability to inflict as much damage as possible.

I had forgotten about the '-strike' abilities. Instantly I charged the energy around me to form the Blizzard spell. Instead of releasing it I left it on the tip of my spear and rushed the Gigas. I aimed for its head but it dodged my attack altogether. Just before I jumped back I released the Blizzard spell and it exploded on the Gigas' left arm. It didn't jump back this time.

Before I could jump back in time the Gigas raised its other arm and swung at me. I split the spear and used the sharp edges to defend myself against the punch. They worked in softening the initial impact, but the rest of the force behind the punch pushed me hard enough and I flew a metre or two back and landed on my ass.

"ERIC! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Snow yelled from behind the giant green monster. I slowly got to my feet and readied myself again.

"Yeah don't worry! I've had worse days!" He laughed and continued to assault the Gigas. As Snow and I attacked it physically Lightning continuously casted Blizzaga.

We thought we had an advantage.

After a few minutes of attacking we were all getting tired, but the Gigas was still standing. Barely scathed. It let out another shriek and rushed Lightning with newly found energy. She was sent flying farther than I was. From her scream of pain I could tell that the Gigas also got stronger.

"LIGHTNING!" I rushed to her side as Snow provoked the Gigas to attack him instead.

She was bleeding heavily and her breathing was erratic. I set her body up against a tree and forced a potion down her throat. She drank it all and regained some of her composure.

"Th-thanks…" She staggered as I helped her back up. She couldn't keep fighting in the condition she was in.

"Can't you cast Cure?" I asked her when she lost her footing and fell on me.

"C-cure only works for wounds. That thing nearly drained all of my energy. I think that's one of it's abilities. If I can't think properly I won't be able to cast anything. If you give me a few minutes I can try, but right now my head is spinning." I could hear Snow's grunts. He was starting to wear down too.

Damnit. I can't cast Cure and potions only have a limit to their effectiveness.

As I tried to think up a plan I could hear Snow taking on the last of the assault. When I looked over at him his arms were purple and he was on his knees. He wasn't using any special defensive abilities. He was taking every hit fully.

I sat Lightning next to a tree and jumped in to save Snow. I can't do much now, but I couldn't bear seeing a friend die.

I infused all of the ice energy I could muster into my spear and stabbed the Gigas in the back of the neck. It made another scream and quickly flung its arms behind itself to hit me. I defended against one arm but the other one hit me in the back as I was still in mid-air.

"AAGGH"

Pain.

I couldn't see.

It hurts.

I could hear a man's scream.

Loud stomping.

My head won't let me think properly.

No one can save us.

Lightning was half-dead, Snow isn't conscious (or worse), and I'm slowly losing my consciousness.

My first adventure ends with my life.

Just like that.

I'll never see anyone again. I'm just going to die. Never fully understanding life. Alone.

The stomping is getting louder.

That thing is coming towards me.

I have minutes left.

Just like that.

What hope is left for me?

I'm just going to die? Here?

* * *

My arm flashed with a bright light and all of my energy returned to me.

When I opened my eyes the Gigas was being crushed by two giant white arms with golden claws. My right arm was burning.

"Ahh…ahhh…." Catching my breath I looked up to see a woman's figure floating above me. She had six angel wings. Her arms were missing and in their place small white lights were pouring out of her shoulders. When the giant arms destroyed the Gigas they disappeared and the angel's arm's reformed to normal size on her body. She was wearing metallic looking white robes. When she turned around I noticed golden tubes going from her neck into a green tube where her mouth was. She had long brown hair and her eyes were covered with a golden visor. In her hands she held two large blades that resembled angel wings. One of them was purple and the other was silver. She stopped glowing and landed softly on the floor. She raised her swords at me and took a fighting stance. I didn't even have to guess what she was.

"You've gotta be kidding me…" I have to fight my Eidolon by myself now? Great…

I readied my weapon and lunged forward at the angel. She deflected my initial attack but I separated the spear and the back end of it managed to cut into her arm. She sped backwards and cracked her neck by twisting it to one side then the next. She crouched into a lower position and sped forward into me I managed to block both of her blades and catch them in the blades of my spear but she still managed to knock me off my feet.

Why is it that every single thing I have to fight can send me flying with only one attack? When can I ever get the advantage?

I pushed the angel back and stabbed the spear into her waist instead of getting up. She deflected it, lifted her arm, and brought it down. I rolled myself to one side as the energy from her attack cut into the ground a few inches ahead of where the blade tip ended.

I jumped back and started casting spells. If I keep up with the close combat I'll eventually die. Fire and Blizzard didn't seem to do anything to her, she seemed immune to them. Crap. The only other tricks I have are Haste and Bravera…

I focused the energy in my body for speed and strength. Once the energy made its way to my fingers I pushed it into my body.

…

It didn't work. Well it sort of worked. I only cast Bravery. It wasn't as strong as Bravera and I didn't cast Haste.

Well fuck me.

My last options were to attack her until I tire or defend against her attacks until I die. Not much better than the fight against the energy draining Gigas, but at least I stood more of a chance against her…

Wait. Energy draining? I think I got something.

As a last ditch effort I tried something new. Magic casting was controlling energy around you and focusing it into whatever was possible. What if I go beyond the boundaries of the energy around me. I'll use her energy as an attack against her.

Using the small bonus from the Bravery spell I lunged into the angel again but this time when my spear stabbed into her waist I kept it there instead of trying to slice through her.

I concentrated on her energy. On the white light that shone out from her wounds. Her energy moved from her body through the spear into my hands. She dropped both of her weapons and tried to pull the spear out of her body, but I took all of the energy I could and caused an explosion right at the angel's waist.

The sound of the explosion was deafening. The energy was white and grey and it expanded too quickly for me to escape.

Everything went white.

I really hope I didn't kill myself in that blast…

I felt light-headed.

A few seconds later my senses returned to me and I saw the angel's wings were covering us both from the blast. Then I heard a beautiful voice.

"_Congratulations, you have proven yourself. I give my strength and aid to you on your travels young L'Cie." _

"Wh-what?" I was dumbfounded. I won? Just like that?

"_My name is Syn. Call upon me whenever you find yourself in an unfavourable position. I am at your side." _

I remember that name….Syn….Norse mythology. Goddess of defense. My Eidolon.

Syn placed me down.

"_Please rest now. I will watch over you until your energy returns to you."_

At that I grunted and passed out almost instantaneously.

* * *

Wao, that one was longer than the last long one I think.

Well if people are enjoying this it would be awesome if someone let me know?

Any criticisms? Stuff I could do less of? More of?

Review please! And Lightning might give you a hug!


	6. We could be very screwed if that happens

WOO 4 more fans! That makes 9! Heh.

I'm glad some people are enjoying this.

I AM SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY!

I have two literary analysis papers due for the same class on the same day (one on Shakespeare T_T) as well as various physics and bio homework holding me back from having a life.

I wonder if there are some sites anywhere with all the cutscenes from games? I need to look over the cutscenes from FFXIII again. And I don't have 60 hours of free time to play the game again.

To reviewers: Don't worry I actually enjoy this story myself I'm not about to give up unless I truly screw something up.

Disclaimer: Chapter 1

* * *

Chapter 6: We could be very screwed if that happens again.

Lightning Farron was fully conscious and also fully healed thanks in part to Eric's Eidolon, Syn. When she was strong enough to carry her sword and defend herself, Syn took her leave.

"_Please keep him safe. And when he wakes up tell him that he can't summon me for an extended period of time. The energy required to heal all of your wounds took its toll on my structure."_

Syn's last words before she dissolved in a beautiful flash of white and gold.

Lightning looked over at Snow who was healed but still regaining his energy. His once purple arms had returned to their normal hue and his bones were fixed back into place.

"Sis…that was one powerful cure spell." Snow was still in disbelief at the condition he was in. Perfectly healed. When he was defending against the Gigas he felt his bones breaking underneath the force of the monster's punches. His Mediguard and even his Steelguard abilities did little to reduce the damage that was done to him. Regardless of his condition afterwards Syn cast a healing spell stronger than the Curaga spell that belonged to the other Eidolons. Snow felt almost as good as new.

"Yeah…the strength of an Eidolon was supposed to be in proportion to the strength of it's user." Lightning was also baffled by this concept. She went from half-dead to fully healed and walking in a matter of 5 minutes.

She was watching the battle between Eric and Syn from where she was sitting.

"Eric…is something else…what he did in that battle…was nothing short of incredible."

"What are you talking about, Light?"

"He couldn't call the magic to himself so he stole the magic from his Eidolon and used it against her. And he survived." Snow's mouth was wide open.

"HE WHAT?"

"You heard me."

"How is that possible? That would mean he used the same tactic the Gigas used against us...wouldn't it?"

"Heh, you're not completely stupid."

"That hurts, sis."

Eric started groaning and Lightning ran over to his side.

"Eric? Are you alright?"

* * *

Twice in one day I wake up with my head pounding. What's going on again? Where am I?

"..ic…ar….o…….ght?"

What?

I took a deep breath and slowly opened my eyes. Right above my head Lightning was staring right at me.

"Eric! Can you hear me?" I grunted and tried to get up. My body was resisting my mind.

Ahh right. I just fought my Eidolon, and nearly killed myself trying to beat her.

I'm such an idiot. Sazh even told me not to overcast. What do I do then? I try to control more energy than my body could allow. It doesn't take a genius to know what condition I'm in. I felt numb, like the blood circulation just started after stopping for a long time.

"H-hey buddy." At least stop worrying the poor woman.

I heard her take a deep breath and she sat back down next to me.

"I hope you know how stupid that was earlier."

"Y-yeah…it kinda just dawned on me a minute ago."

"You can't keep doing reckless things like that. You could die."

"I thought I was gonna die twice today anyway. Cut me some slack." She laughed a bit. I tried to get up again. It was a bit easier. I had to use the spear to keep myself in an upright sitting position, but it was better than nothing.

I took a few minutes to regain control of my limbs and then I stood up. Slowly.

Lightning helped me up and my energy slowly returned to me.

"So you wanna explain why the hell you decided to do something so stupid? You're bloody lucky that your Eidolon protected everyone. We all could've died." Lightning looked as if she wanted to push me down again.

"Sorry…" I didn't know what else to say. She had an intimidating presence, she also seemed like the type to twist what you say against you if she was really pissed off.

"Well just try to think about your surroundings before doing something that stupid again. Okay?"

"Y-yes ma'am."

"Also Syn told me to tell you that she spent a rather large amount of energy and that you can't summon her anytime soon because she needs to recover." I contemplated the time it might take for me to be able to summon her. Hopefully I won't need to call on her often and tire her out too much.

"Alright, thanks."

We left the destroyed area and headed back. If the creatures in this area require the use of an Eidolon in every situation we're not going to survive for long.

When we made it back out of the forest the sun had gone down. It was nighttime.

"Crap…we're late. Let's hurry. Serah's probably worried sick." Lightning started to run through the plains to the other side.

"…and Sazh, Dajh, Hope, and Bartholomew?" I added as I followed closely behind her.

"Hey Serah can't be THAT worried. I mean you guys are with me! The hero!" …Did he just?...

"I can't believe that in my entire visit here that's the FIRST time I've heard you say that." Snow chuckled.

"I'm sorry, I'll say it more often."

"Ugh fal'Cie be damned! PLEASE DON'T!" She was yelling from the Cie'th stone as Snow and I were climbing up the hill.

When we made it to the top of the hill we all teleported back.

* * *

Once we got back to Oerba we were greeted by a worried Serah to whom Snow retold the events of the day several times.

"YOU ALMOST DIED?" Serah was yelling at Snow and Lightning.

"Well we were saved by Eric's Eidolon." Snow was scratching the back of his head. Serah wasn't amused.

"You too Éclair? Come on. How could this happen?" And again Snow told Serah the events in some attempt to explain.

I yawned. Once we made it back I was really friggin tired.

"I think we should call it a day. It's late and I propose we get some sleep and train or something tomorrow." I scratched the back of my head and Lightning nodded.

We started walking down the road to the residential section of the village. I turned into the side road where my storage room was when Serah called out to me.

"Hey where are you going?"

"Huh? What's wrong?" She giggled.

"Well today they finished building our new house! We already moved out my stuff and Snow's stuff from the smaller loft and now Éclair needs a roommate!" She also whispered to Lightning. "We also renovated the old loft for you."

It took me a few seconds to piece that one together.

"So what are you saying exactly?"

Serah rolled her eyes.

"Silly, you're living with Éclair now!"

"Uhh…what?" I was dumbfounded. Maybe this wouldn't have been so weird if they roomed me with Hope and his father or Sazh and Dajh, but Light? Good lord. I'm giddy with excitement.

"He's so stunned he's at a loss for words." Lightning smirked and started to walk down the road to the loft. Snow pat my back pretty hard when he walked by me.

"Hey come on! We all know you're getting along with sis really well-"

"Stop calling me that!" From the bottom of the hill Lightning yelled back at him. We all chuckled as we followed her down.

Serah and Snow's new house was built right next to mine and Lightning's. It was also pink. I couldn't hold back a few laughs.

"What's the problem?" Serah looked at me and pouted.

"Uhh…it's nothing…you really like pink don't you?" She pulled on Snow's arm and he followed her inside their new house.

"I LOVE pink!" She yelled before she closed the door.

Lightning and I walked up the stairs into the new loft. Once we were inside the room had the feel of a home. There were tons of photographs all over the walls. Many of them were of Serah aiming a camera to herself with someone else. The largest photo was one of Lightning, Hope, Snow, Fang, Vanille, and Sazh. Everyone looked at peace even though they were still fugitive L'Cie at the time. They looked like they were all conversing with each other and having a good time getting along.

"It was taken with my old cellphone. Vanille suggested it. Now that I look back on it, I'm kinda glad she convinced me to let her do it." I turned around and saw a large curtain that was pulled up. Behind it I could see a silhouette of Lightning taking a shower. I blushed and looked away. She wasn't exactly naked in front of me or anything but it was still weird. As I walked around the room I saw an old toy robot on a shelf. I remember it from somewhere…

It was Bhakti, Vanille's old robot. I just realized something…This loft was Fang and Vanille's old loft from when they lived in Oerba. It was almost unrecognizable aside from the rounded windows.

"Here." Something landed on the back of my head. I grabbed it and observed it. It was a pair of grey sweatpants and a new black t-shirt.

"You can sleep easier in something more comfortable." I looked over at Lightning who was wearing a white tank top and similar grey sweatpants.

"Thanks. Mind if I take a shower?"

"Not at all, the soap is clearly labelled."

I took a quick shower. It was nice after so many days without one. It was so relaxing I could've fallen asleep in the shower. When I came out I saw Lightning making a salad.

"You like having a midnight snack?"

"Hey I made some for you too." I observed the salad she made. She didn't have a dressing yet so I looked through the spices and oils and make a quick vinaigrette.

We sat down at the table next to the rounded windows and started eating.

"You know. I never thought you'd be the type to be okay with living with someone you've only known for less than a week." She chuckled.

"You learn new things about people all the time don't you?"

"I guess you're right."

"So, any ideas to what our focus is?" She moved her tank top down to look at her brand.

"Your guess is as good as mine."

I sighed and looked around the room again. Something interesting caught my eye. I got up and opened my new closet. Inside was an acoustic guitar.

"Holy crap, awesome!" I used to play in high school. I really only played electric, but I had an acoustic that I learnt some classical music on. I pulled it out and tuned it. I played some chords and fell in love with the thing. After a while I started playing whatever I could remember. The first thing that came to my mind was some Bach.

As the calming sounds of the guitar filled the room Lightning stared at me almost entranced.

"That was actually really nice. I never used to really listen to music, but that was a beautiful piece you just played." Lightning still looked like she was in awe.

"Heh thanks. Unfortunately it's all I can remember…" It kinda sucked, but it was true. I only remembered one song. Maybe if I had a month I could write something using old patterns, but I'm nowhere near as good to be able to do it properly.

"Well you're better than Snow. He tried to play some fast-paced song I couldn't make out. And I'd say you're as good as Sazh. Although he can write his own stuff, it's usually all bluesy. Not really my thing."

"Hey I like the blues too."

She chuckled.

We talked for a while longer before going to our separate beds. I put the guitar safely down and Lightning shut off the lights.

"Good night Eric."

"Good night Lightning."

And I drifted peacefully into sleep.

* * *

Sorry, I've had no time to let the creative juices flow so this chapter is almost a bit of filler.

I just felt really bad for missing last week's update, so I decided to go with some character development instead. (I have my plot thought out, it's just getting to the plot development is taking some time for me :p)

Thankfully I haven't experienced writers block, and I daresay if I do I may actually find the time to replay FF just to get myself back in the right mood. (If anyone knows of some good sites to rewatch cutscenes I'd love you forever.)


	7. Intermission B

Okay Intermission B!

It's hard to write because I just bought myself a pretty new guitar. My mind is constantly thinking about it now ^_^

Anywho I'd like to thank LowBatteryLife for finding those cutscenes for me. They were pretty damn helpful :)

So the essays have been handed in, now I just have various biology and physics homework that I'm procrastinating against doing. WOO!

It's kinda depressing that I have like only 11 fans after all this time :P BUT I SHALL WRITE ON!

I think it's my summary. It kinda sucks something nasty.

I'm thinking on making this pretty long too lol. I have a lot of plot devices that I plan on inserting, but it's getting to them that I've having some trouble with.

So chapter 7! Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 7: Intermission B

_He was dreaming, at least it felt like a dream. He was standing in an open field. Grass was all that could be seen. All the way to the sunless horizon. Despite the fact that there was no sun present, the field was illuminated as though there were._

_His red Bladed Lance on his back, he glanced around the area again and began walking, aimlessly. _

_It seemed like an eternity._

_Aimlessly walking around wondering how he got here. This place was strange, yet he was not worried. It was different but it was as though he had been here before._

"_Silly chap. It should be familiar to you." He turned to the direction of the accented female voice. Behind him was a lightly tan skinned woman. She had green eyes and was wearing her trademark blue Sari. Her red Bladed Lance was also on her back._

"_Fang…"_

"_Well! You know my name! Isn't that great!" She chuckled and began walking up to him. "Y'know Eric, I have a question. What are your ideals? Your dreams?"_

"_My what? Why are you asking?"_

"_Curiosity." She stood right in front of him and pushed his head back a bit with her finger._

"_I don't know…I never really thought about it…Hey if I dreaming this right now why am I just with you? No offence, but I would've at least dreamt myself with more people."_

"_Hey that hurts." She pouted, but began smirking afterwards. "This isn't really a 'dream' persay I mean sure we're both sleeping, but we're not imagining this."_

"_Then by what you're saying we're just connected in the same dream or something? Is it because you're in crystal stasis? By that logic Vanille should be here too, no?"_

_She kept smirking, but she looked to the floor. "You don't get it."_

"_I don't get what?"_

"_Well I guess this is all different to you. Hell this is the first time I've ever connected with anyone like this. I guess that says something."_

"_What are you talking about?"_

_She pulled off her spear and took a fighting stance. "Enough talkin'. It's no fun if I just have to bloody spell it out for you."_

_He was taken aback by her stance but readied himself regardless._

"_Come on big boy! Show me what you're worth!" She rushed in and began attacking him. Her spear relentlessly stabbing at him. _

_He managed to block the majority of the stabs and dodged a few before starting an assault of his own. Much slower he managed to split apart his spear and make three quick slices at her before she jumped back a few metres. _

_He could feel magic energy coming to him much more easily in this 'realm.' He concentrated on the quick moving woman and shot a powerful Firaga spell directly at her. Shock sprawled across her face in an instant before she quickly used a defensive ability to reduce the strength of the spell. _

_She smirked again as she started to cast her own spells. Four Ruinga spells were fired off in quick succession. Having no time to defend himself he took the brunt of the attack and rushed her when she let her guard down._

"_Tch, you've got some balls to be tryin' something like that now." She was being pushed back. He had cast Bravera on himself before her spells hit him. His new strength helped him take a small advantage as he left the spear split and flipped the back end of it to force the front end to flip up towards her. His spear nicked her left arm before she jumped away from him again._

"_It's incredible how you're so used to that spear don't you think? Well I think I'll pick things up a notch." She began shining with purple energy and took another fighting stance. This time her spear was held over her head instead of behind her._

"_Oh that's cute, let's start using spells Eric's never seen before!" He was being sarcastic as he reattached his spear and readied himself still under the influence of his Bravera spell. She smirked and rushed him at a speed that would make Lightning look slow._

_Without even realizing it he was sent flying back. He never even saw her move. All he remembered was getting kicked in the chest._

"_Hahhhh…..ugh…." He was breathing heavily. He had one knee on the ground as he tried to get up before she rushed him again. This time he saw a blur and managed to put his spear in front of him before the next kick sent him flying back again. _

"_Damnit, you're a real bitch. You know that?" He was laughing a bit as he coughed up blood._

"_You don't look to hot. Wanna throw in the towel already?" She was standing over him smirking._

"_Like hell." He spun his spear around and she jumped back. This time he copied her technique and used his own energy. Grey light began to shine from him as he jumped and cast five Ruinga spells at his opponent. Instead of defending against this new onslaught she cast various Waterga and Aeroga spells to counteract his attack._

_Their spears clashed, fatigue growing in both of them._

"_You know for a newbie you've got some damn skill."_

"_Thanks old lady. It means a lot coming from you." This comment did nothing but anger her. She pushed him back as she jumped back again to create some distance between them. _

"_Tch…Fine buddy you asked for it!" She put her hand over her right shoulder and a crystal glowed as it phased into her hand._

"_BAHAMUT!"_

_Clouds began to form in the cloudless sky as multiple magic circles appeared. As each one appeared it would get destroyed as a colossal purple monster flew threw them. It spun around and stood behind it's master, glowing red claws extended. _

"_Ahh as if I'm going to fight you and your Eidolon by myself." He mimicked her again and this time took out his own crystal from his right shoulder._

"_Syn…"_

_A massive grey magic circle appeared behind him. The angel stepped out and landed gracefully in front of her master to protect him from incoming attacks. Her purple and silver blades held in both of her hands. She cracked her neck and took a low fighting position. _

_Bahamut flew towards his opponent and began to attack Syn with his claws. She elegantly dodged the beast's attacks and countered with quick and precise stabs and slashes. Bahamut produced a loud screech and his claws lit on fire. He created a fiery tornado and shot it towards the angel._

_Syn used her wings to nullify the tornado and began another assault on Bahamut. At this point Fang jumped over Bahamut and stabbed Syn in the shoulder. Syn jumped back and stood next to her master before Fang could lead into another attack._

_Eric decided to end things early and force Syn into Gestalt mode. Her six wings formed into two larger wings and her visor was lifted to reveal two blood red eyes. The bottom portion of her face reformed into a beak and her robes combined and reformed her legs. By the end of her transformation Syn had become a griffin. Eric jumped onto her gallant form and prepared for an attack._

_Fang followed suit and forced Bahamut into his own Gestalt. His limbs moved behind him and wings formed around him. His transformation into his dragon form ended quickly and Fang mounted him._

_The battle begun with Syn shooting a large number of rockets from hidden compartments on her arms. Bahamut countered with large blasts of fire. The wind energy released when the rockets and the fire collided caused both Eidolons to fly backwards to protect their masters._

_The first one to recover was Bahamut who flew straight into Syn and began clawing at her head. Syn opened her beak and let out a blast of white and gold energy that hit Bahamut square in the chest. The dragon staggered back and started to punch at the griffin. Syn countered by flying over Bahamut and scratching at his wings._

"_Eric, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Bahamut here, he's one of the strongest Eidolons any L'cie has ever gotten. Allow me to demonstrate. BAHAMUT!" The dragon let out a shriek and flew up into the sky. Fang pointed at Syn and Eric with her spear and yelled, "MEGA FLARE!" The creature began charging it's attack._

_Eric looked down at Syn and pet her head. "You gonna be okay after this?"_

"_Yes Eric I am prepared to defend us both."_

"_Good…"_

_Bahamut shot the small blue ball of energy and it sped toward the griffin and exploded right on contact. The explosion was so large it almost engulfed Fang and Bahamut. _

"_Damn I hope I didn't kill the guy. Good job Bahamut." Fang dismissed her Eidolon as it let her down and she walked through the smoke to find Eric._

"_Who said I died?" Caught off guard Fang was ambushed by Eric. Blood was dripping off of his chin from the top of his head and he was breathing heavily._

"_H-How are you?"_

_"Fang, I'm going to let you in on a little secret._ _Syn is the goddess of DEFENSE. It's a general tactic to fight the ultimate attack with the ultimate defense…If only I were stronger I may not have been hurt as much from that attack."_

"_Incredible." Fang was speechless. "But I do hope you know what kind of position you're in now."_

_He grunted. "Yea so you won. Great job." The smoke had dissipated and they were standing in the field. The field still looked fresh, as though no battle had just taken place. They both lowered their weapons and sat down._

"_So you still don't get it do you Eric?" Fang was stretching as if she had just finished warming up. "Tell me. Did you notice ANYTHING about our battle?"_

"_Spells came easier to me. I didn't have to concentrate on them. I could just cast. What gives?"_

"_No not that…But it's a start…Ugh I wish you were smarter than this…"_

"_Oh thanks. Would you care to explain then?"_

"_WE ARE CONNECTED. You got that part down right?" There was a slight tone of annoyance behind her thick accent._

"_Yep."_

"_Do you know how? Has the thought never occurred to you? Do you know that the reason you feel so familiar in this realm is because it's our subconscious?"_

"_Our subconscious?" He looked around the open field it was nice. Open. Free. He did love it._

"_Yes our subconscious. You thought this was just some random dream about me or something? This is just another shred of proof that we are connected. Think about it." She was staring into his eyes the meaning behind what she was saying hit him hard. "The placement of your brand, it's in the exact same location as mine, look at how accustomed you are to fighting with my spear and you've only had it for a day! Even your Eidolon, while this observation is a little less obvious, we both ride winged Eidolon's modelled after mythical monsters. Neither Gran Pulse nor Cocoon have seen the likes of griffins or dragons in thousands of years, assuming they even existed."_

_He was silent for a while._

"_Eric?" She was still staring at him._

"_So, we're connected in mind. How?"_

"_Your guess is as good as mine, mate. All I know is that this connection is important. I felt it the day you woke up on Pulse and ever since I've been trying to get to you. It gets kinda boring when you're in crystal stasis for so long. Five hundred years of sleeping was a bloody nightmare for me." She smirked._

"_Yea I bet, so now that we're connected like this what's going to happen? Like, can you just talk to me now whenever you want?"_

"_I think I may be able to, yea. We'll find out tomorrow. If not you can come back here and we can talk later."_

_He chuckled. "I don't even know how I got here in the first place."_

"_Don't worry about it. When you need to come here you will. Although be sure to visit often it gets lonely here. I can't even talk to Vanille…" Her mood dropped a bit when she thought about her companion._

"_Hey maybe I can tell the guys that I can talk to you like this. Although I'd need some kind of proof or else they would literally dismiss me as crazy. It was bad enough when I had to explain that this entire world was supposed to be a video game." She brightened up a bit._

"_I think you shouldn't tell 'em. It can be our little secret." She winked at him. "Now I think you should be waking up soon. Let me just give you a word of warning. All the crazy magic we used in this realm was possible because this realm draws upon our imagination. When you wake up you may be able to cast some stronger spells, but nothing to the extent of our battle. And do NOT, EVER, try to control your magic to make you move at the speed of sound like before. It's near impossible to pull off, and even if you can the force against your body as you move can and will kill you."_

"_Understood ma'am." He saluted her and noticed his hand was transparent. The transparency began to spread across his entire body. Soon he began disappearing._

"_I'll try to talk to you when I wake up, see if we're still connected. See ya." He completely faded away and left the tribeswoman by herself in the field. She whispered calmly to herself._

"_See ya later…"_

_

* * *

_

Bet you weren't expecting that huh? Well that's this week's instalment. Stay tuned and whatnot. If you like this fic tell your friends about it :P

NOTE: Yes Fang eventually learns Waterga and Aeroga in her Ravager role, I did not make that up.


	8. Meeting with the Dark

Well, for those who have read my resurrection (Shameless apology) chapter, you should know I'm back.

It was an extended absence due to life things.

But I'm back, and I plan on finishing this fic whether people are enjoying it or not.

Decided to start getting into the juicy parts of the story, maybe...

Disclaimer: Chapter 1

Also, anyone wanna explain to me how I get myself a Beta Reader? I be confused.

* * *

Chapter 8: Meeting with the Dark, YO DAWG YOU BE HEADLESS!

Six AM sharp. This woman is a slave driver...

"Wake up Eric. It's late." Late? Are you serious? I didn't even get up this early for my classes...

"Ugh thirty more minutes...please..."

"No, wake up or you're getting kicked out." Whining, I finally complied with the slave driver's orders.

"Why are you so punctual? Don't we just have to help around the village and crap today?" I can't lie, I get a bit irritable in the morning, but alas, I forget who I'm messing with.

"I could also work on not getting you breakfast next time." She grumbled as she brushed her teeth. I followed suit and we left the loft and met a bunch of people at the plaza. A lot of people were looking at me, some came up to me and introduced themselves to me, it was pretty awesome.

I saw my main group of friends, basically the cast of Final Fantasy XIII, how cool. That's when I remembered.

"_F-Fang?"_ Maybe we could be connected by thoughts. _"Hey buddy boy, looks like it works."_ The fact that there was a woman's voice in my head that I wasn't imagining kind of freaked me out, but her accent calmed me down._ "Well go on, say hi to everyone. You look like a stiff." _A little embarrassed now I walked over to the group. "Morning everyone."

"Yo Eric, Light told us that you need some magic training, so me and Hope are gonna help you out today." Sazh was nodding his head as we helped arrange the breakfast tables.

"My magic? What's wrong with it?" Sazh laughed. "Absolutely nothin' it's just fresh. She told us how you fought your Eidolon, if you can manage to control those kinds of abilities, you'll be one hella force to mess with."

I laughed half-heartedly. "I'm not even one hundred percent sure I could pull something like that off again, even on a minimal scale." That wasn't completely true, after waking up today my magical concentration seemed more...acute...Fang was right, I feel a bit stronger from last night.

"Well try it when you start." Lighting said, next to me. I was wondering why she was being such a hardass, but then I remembered she's LIGHTNING FARRON. It would've been weird if she was calm and peaceful the whole time.

Breakfast finished pretty quickly. I met Sazh and Hope at the cie'th stone. "Alright, so where to?" Sazh pondered for a second, "how about Sullya Springs?" I looked at him with scepticism. "Do I need to remind you how we almost died?" Sazh laughed. "No kid, the open field before that death forest."

"Ahh...I guess, good thinking."

"_Yea mate, he's not retarded." Fang chuckled. Annoyed, I retorted, pathetically, "Shush you."_

We crossed through the cie'th stone and made it to the open field. Sazh and Hope pulled out their weapons. "Alright, try casting some spells." Sazh aimed and shot at a boulder. I concentrated the energy and fired. The magic came to me much more naturally than it did yesterday. I cast a Firaga and a Thundaga spell consecutively. "Holy crap..." Sazh was shocked, well who wouldn't be when the new guy starts casting spells a day later that took everyone else weeks to master.

"How did you manage somethin' like that now?" Sazh asked genuinely confused. "Uhh...I dunno, it just came to me naturally." As if I was going to tell him I was dream sparring with Fang and opened up a huge amount of my magic capabilities overnight. "You sure you weren't a L'cie back in your world?"

I shook my head. "Maybe I'd think of that if magic existed in my world." Sazh laughed and Hope stood up from where he was sitting. "I say we have a little magic sparring match. What do you guys say?" Sazh shook his head vigorously. "Hell no kid, no chance in hell I can keep up with you two youngins."

We all laughed as Sazh sat out the match. "Don't hold back, Sazh can cure us when we're finished. Just don't kill me okay? And start!"

"Sure, pumpkin." I smirked. "Pumpki- whaa?" In his confusion I blasted him with a Blizzaga spell. The slow release on the spell left him open enough to conjure up a Firaga spell to counter. "Okay, then...this?" I cast two Runinga spells, one in front and one next to him, he jumped back into safety and shot two of his own Firaga spells at me. The first one was defended with my lance, but the second one knocked me on my ass. I liked using blizzard and ruin spells so I decided to do what I did yesterday. I charged the energy into my weapon similar to a strike spell, but instead of hitting him with my lance I shot the blizzard spell at him by slashing with the lance. The spell was faster than his Firaga spells.

"Omph!" He got knocked on his ass. "Hurts don't it?"

"_I wish I thought of that when I was fighting with them." Fang sighed._

"That was pretty good. Too bad you can't summon your Eidolon or I'd fight you like that too!" Hope cast a few more spells but I managed to deflect them. "This was a pretty uneventful battle aside from you showin' off." Sazh said as he stood up. "At this rate all you'll do is get tired but you already have mastery of such powerful spells. How are you feeling? Any headaches?"

"Nope, I feel fine." I checked myself out. Clear mind. _"Good job mate, aren't you glad I'm in your head?"_ Well, almost clear mind.

"Well it looks like you boys had some fun." A voice echoed around the field. It was a powerful voice that demanded attention. Before we knew what was going on a knight in black armour rode over to us on a black headless horse.

"A Dullahan?" I was confused. I thought monsters just existed here, not faeries and other mythical creatures from my world.

"You know of our myth?" The knight responded. I nodded. "Wait, I thought Dullahans were headless." This is a fact, verified after the Dullahan took off his helmet. It's head was inside the helmet, which I guess made it easier for it to fight.

"Eric, what's going on? Why the hell does this dude have no head?" Sazh looked a bit worried. I'll admit I was too. Dullahans were basically Irish Grim Reapers. "Not sure what's going on, so do you have business with us?"

The Dullahan chuckled. "Business with you? Your lives shall revolve around me in the coming days."

Irritated I asked him. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

The voice of the Dullahan grew even more powerful, and it's echo was booming in my mind. "**Boy from our world, you have the capability to be more than they were ever. Work alongside them towards the fate of all worlds.**"

"For the love of god could you people PLEASE quit it with this cryptic bullshit? First the damn fal'cie stone thing, now you?" Then a second passed. "Wait, from our world? You ARE from Ireland?"

The Dullahan chuckled again, "Ahh sweet motherland, how long has it been since I've heard your name? You guess correct."

"Why am I here?"

"You exist here, to cause a dimensional rift." Wait what? That's it? That's all it took? What happened to entering the boss's castle, doing some puzzles and kicking his ass? He's just going to tell me?

"Okay now I'm confused. Are you my enemy or my ally?" For the third time the Dullahan chuckled. "I guess you could say I'm the one who brought you here." I sighed. "That didn't answer my question..."

"You will have to find that out for yourself. In the meantime continue your preparations. I bid my leave."

No, I can't let the one person who might know everything get away. "GET BACK HERE!" I lunged forward and tried to stab at the Dullahan with my lance.

A fourth time, he chuckled. "Silly boy, you do not even realize your own place."

"Wha-"

Instantly my whole world turned black. I felt a sharp pain in my right arm. "**This power is not enough to challenge me.**" I thought I was stronger than this now.

"AGHH! GUH!" I felt that numbness when you lose blood. My mind started to go blank. In and out of consciousness.

Then nothing.

* * *

Heavily breathing, I woke up. I was in my room. Lightning was sitting in a chair bent over my bed sleeping on the side of it.

"_Lovely to see you up so bright and early sunshine." Fang chuckled. "Wake up the captain before she starts gettin' elderly back pain at the ripe old age of 22."_

I patted Lightning's shoulder and shook her a bit, she jolted awake. "Oh thank god." She exhaled then her features got serious.

"I think calling you an idiot doesn't cut it now." I sat up and held on to my head. "Haha, I'm sorry, I didn't want to let the only other person from my world go like that." Lightning nodded. "I guess I can sympathize with that, but still you even knew that the thing you tried to fight was basically a grim reaper from your world. I just glad it didn't take your soul or anything like in the stories."

"You're scaring me." Why did I say that?

"How so?"

"Aren't you supposed to kick my ass now?" WHY DID I SAY THAT?

She smirked. "Are you a masochist? Why would you assume that?"

"You seem like you would hurt the average friend if they did something as stupid as I did." **WHY DID I SAY THAT?**

"I might've but I don't think it would've helped much, plus you already realize how stupid you acted, so I guess there's no point." Did Lightning Farron...just let me go with a pat on the back?

"_You've gotten past Light's rage? Good lord, I should applaud you for that, let me know what you did for this outcome." Fang actually sounded genuinely shocked._

I hugged her with one arm, "Thanks bud, so how long was I out for?" Lighting looked at the wall clock. "About 5 hours. Since you've been out, you missed lunch, so I made you some stuff with the leftovers."

I thanked her and ate. "So what happened while I was out?"

"The thing, Sazh said it's name was Dullahan, told them to get you stronger. And he also told me how you're now on par with Hope in terms of magic casting. Now what? You're going to be able to handle me and Snow in a fight?"

"Maybe?" we both laughed. Although Light just kinda grunted.

Then I got out of bed and stretched. "So should we go out and help some village people?"

"That depends on how you address them."

"What do you mean?"

"If you actually call them village person A, B, C, I'll do more than just hit you." If Lightning Farron threatens you, you listen. "Haha, don't worry I know a few people's names already."

We walked out and Hope ran over to me. "Hey Eric! You feeling better?"

"You bet, now let's go around and help out some people alright?" Hope grinned. "I guess I'll be taking him off your hands Light." Light looked at me and sighed. "We still need to talk after, I'll save it for tonight."

Then I sighed. _"She's right, you can't just go off and forget about what just happened. Not only does it involve you, but the entire issue at hand may just revolve around you too." Fang sounded concerned._

"_I know, it's still weird. I thought I'd meet another human from my world or something, not a Dullahan..."_

"_Yea, but don't let things like that psyche you out. It was strong, you need to be on your toes."_

"_Yes madam." _

I was basically talking to Fang and Hope at the same time. It was hard, it was like trying to daydream AND stay in reality at the same time.

"Eric?"

"Huh?"

"Dinner's over, you need to get up." The hell? I swear I was helping Anderson build a roof last. Lightning was nudging me to get up. I guess she saw how zoned out I was. _"You really need to practise this." Fang laughed from within my head. "Hey screw you, you try dealing with this."_

I managed to get back into the loft afterwards exhausted out of my mind, literally.

"_Master?"_

"_Fang, I swear to god, I'll start blocking you out somehow."_

"_No, this is not Fang. Though I am displeased that she has distracted you from your work today." A chuckle in Fang's accent joined in. "Aww c'mon, it was all in good fun." _

"_If master had hurt himself because you distracted him, I might just take up fury out on Bahamut." At this point I interjected. "Uhh, she wasn't really getting in the way, cut her some slack, she's stuck in a giant pillar of crystal." Fang laughed again._

"_Have you had a good day master?"_

"_Uhh, I almost died again? But it was only once today! Aren't you proud? Uhh how come you're calling me master?"_

"_Because that is the relationship that an Eidolon has with their masters once they're beaten."_

"_It's weird, just call me Eric like last night." She paused, then, "As you wish, Eric."_

"You awake?" Light sat down next to me on my bed and watched me get up. "Yea, just talking to my Eidolon."

"Ahh, she's feeling better? Here take out your crystal. It's almost like owning a pet."

I took out the crystal from my mark. "A pet that looks like and is even more powerful than a tank?" Light laughed. "They also like to hang around their kind. Think about it, they're stuck with their master's day in and day out. That must get annoying after a while? No?"

"I guess." She took my crystal and merged it with hers. "There, they're making a little playground of sorts."

"Interesting." I looked at her crystal flower being held by my claw. It would've been eerie, but it looked like the claw was holding it carefully as if it were a real flower.

"So, what do you know about this Dullahan?" Straight to the point, huh?

"Not much, just that they're Irish grim reapers, Ireland is a country from my world. I know something about them like if they're roaming around your village and you open the door to your house they take your soul and drag you to hell. Yea that and they're headless. Sorry not much help."

"No it's alright. Why is one of them here? It's strange. Do you think it came here in the same way you did?"

"I don't think so, he's an ethereal being, I came here on some fal'cie's whim, or even Dullahan's for all I know, but I doubt you could make a ghost a L'cie." Light thought something to herself and dropped it. "I wouldn't count out him being a L'cie, it's just a thought. Well we'll just have to worry about him when we see him again. He said our lives will end up revolving around him anyway so I assume we'll see him soon." I nodded and we both got ready for bed.

"Good night Eric."

"Nighty, Light."

"Stay safe."

The voice was faint and I couldn't tell if it was Light or Fang who said it.

* * *

Bum chika wup wup.

Ideas are pouring into my head, and I've completely strayed from the boring ass story I was initially planning on. Although we'll have to see if I can keep Dullahan interesting :O

Well here goes nothing.

Also I've finally started to play the original version of FF7. Yay!


End file.
